THE  LIBRARY  OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


BY  PROF.  FISK  P.  BREWER^  «M 


The  Library  of  the  University  has  been,  and  perhaps  still  is,  the 
largest  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina.  The  present  Librarian  on  as- 
suming his  duties  found  no  sketch  of  its  history.  The  following  sum- 
mary of  the  principal  facts  that  he  has  been  able  to  learn,  is  published 
for  the  gratification  of  those  interested  and  in  the  hope  of  collecting 
further  materials.  If  he  has  fallen  into  any  errors,  he  will  be  thankful 
for  their  correction. 

FOUNDING  OF  THE  LIBRARY. 

The  University  though  chartered  in  1789  and  located  in  1792,  was 
opened  to  the  public  and  received  its  first  students  in  1795.  The 
charter  speaks  of  the  Library  as  if  it  were  to  be  an  essential  part  of 
the  Institution :  and  with  the  gathering  of  the  first  classes  the  Library 
was  begun.  Gen.  W.  R.  Davie,  afterward  Governor,  gave  to  it  four- 
teen volumes  in  1795,  and  subsequently  added  twenty-five  more. — 
There  is  one  volume  indeed  which  was  given  before  the  Library  or 
even  the  University  had  any  being.  It  is  a  stout  folio  of  Bishop  Wil- 
son's Works,  one  of  a  number  presented  to  Congress  by  his  son,  and 
then  distributed  through  its  members  to  institutions  of  learning  in  the 
several  States.  The  fly-leaf  contains  the  resolution  of  Congress,  March 
22,  1785,  and  underneath  the  following  record  :  '"In  pursuance  of  the 
above  resolution  the  undersigned,  delegates  from  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  have  agreed  to  transmit  the  works  of  Doctor  Thomas  Wilson 
to  Newberne  to  be  deposited  there  in  the  Library  belonging  to  the 
public  Academy,  till  the  time  arrives,  which  they  hope  is  not  far  dis- 
tant, when  the  Wisdom  of  the  Legislature  according  to  the  express 
intention  of  the  Constitution  shall  have  caused  a  College  or  University 
to  be  erected  in  the  State.  Hu.  Williamson, 

Jno.  Sitgreaves." 

early  donors. 

Among  the  other  early  donors  Richard  Bennehan,  Esq.,  of  Orange 
county  gave  28  volumes  and  Joseph  Blount  Hill  an  Encyclopaedia  in 
18  volumes.  In  1816  Rev.  James  Hall,  D.  D.,  of  Iredell,  gave  49  vol- 
umes, a  third  of  them  printed  before  1700,  and  all  of  them  very  inter- 
esting for  their  contents  or  history.  About  a  hundred  volumes  were 
received  from  the  Library  of  Joseph  Gautier,  of  Elizabethtown,  mostly 
French  books  of  devotion  and  Protestant  theology.  Only  ten  of  these 
are  marked  as  gifts,  and  it  does  not  appeer  how  the  rest  came  into 
the  Library.  About  seventy-five  other  volumes  besides  Congressional 
documents  were  donated  before  Dr.  Caldwell's  visit  to  Europe  in  1824. 

LIBRARY  TAX. 

The  authorities  of  the  University,  appreciating  the  importance  of 
fostering  the  Library,  took  early  measures  to  provide  an  income  for 
it.  A  law  in  1803  declares  "Every  student  on  the  establishment  shall 
be  considered  as  using  the  books  of  the  public  library  under  the  limi- 
tations and  restrictions  already  established,  and  for  this  privilege 
each  and  every  of  them  shall  pay  to  the  Librarian  in  manner  al- 
ready provided."  What  that  earlier  provision  was,  does  not  appear, 
but  in  the  rates  ordered  to  be  published  Dec.  6,  1806,  the  Library 
charge  was  fifty  cents  a  session.  The  revised  laws  of  1813  raised  the 
charge  to  "one  dollar  for  the  session  in  advance,"  and  required  the 
Librarian  to  "account  to  the  treasurer  of  the  board  for  the  monies  he 
has  received  as  librarian."    Pres.  Chapman  reports  (Nov.  1814)  "that 


< 2 ) 

Bince  the  Library  money  has  been  placed  at  our  disposal  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  Library  of  the  University,  $205.25  have  been  received.  There 
is  on  file  a  catalogue  of  174  books  bought  by  the  Faculty,  probablv 
With  this  fund,  29  in  the  year  1814,  102  in  1815,  and  43  in  1816.  In 
Dec.  1824,  the  Librarian  (probably  Joseph  H.  Saunders,  the  Senior 
Tutor,)  reports  43  volumes  and  64  numbers  of  Journals  purchased  at 
a  cost  of  $350.25  since  "his  account  rendered  to  Committee  of  Ap- 
pointment in  February  last,"  This  was  while  the  President  was  in 
Europe  purchasing  books  and  nearly  the  whole  amount  was  advanced 
by  the  Librarian,  the  amount  received  from  the  students  being  only 
$155,  which  was  little  more  than  the  deficit  of  the  previous  report. — 
There  is  no  later  record  of  the  purchase  of  books  by  the  Faculty,  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  library  charge  was  at  this  time  abolished.  It 
is  not  referred  to  in  the  laws  of  1838,  neither  do  the  students'  bills  of 
1830  contain  it, 

PROPOSITION  TO  ENLARGE  THE  LIBRARY. 

A  report  of  the  Faculty  to  the  Trustees  (Dec.  1822)  appeals  earn- 
estly through  six  pages  for  the  improvement  of  the  apparatus  and  the 
Library,  closing  thus  :  "Could  the  board  find  it  consistent  with  the 
present  prospects  of  the  treasury,  or  with  any  provision  which  may 
be  made,  to  direct  that  apparatus  shall  be  procured  to  the  amount  of 
five  or  even  of  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  library 
equivalent  to  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  sums,  it  is  thought  that 
the  interests  of  the  Institution  will  be  promoted  more  efficiently  than 
by  any  other  means  at  its  present  stage  of  advancement."  No  allu- 
sion is  made  in  the  report  to  the  annual  revenue  from  the  Library 
tax.  Information  on  that  subject  seems  to  have  been  called  for  after- 
wards by  the  Trustees,  as  appears  from  a  notable  Letter  op  Dr. 
Caldwell  on  the  Library,  Feb.  19,  1824.  He  says,  "Since  the  notice 
given  by  Mr.  Manly  I  have  had  the  Library  examined,  and  have  found 
that  the  books  are  all  present,  agreeably  to  the  account  herewith  trans- 
mitted.  The  Record  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer,  will  show  the 
number  of  the  students  for  every  session.  These  accounts  therefore  as 
now  presented  by  the  Faculty,  are  completely  subject  to  control  on 
the  part  of  the  Board ;  and  we  would  invite  the  attention  of  a  Com- 
mittee, or  of  the  Board  itself  to  the  state  of  the  Library,  at  such  time 
as  may  be  convenient  or  eligible.  I  would  suggest  that  a  visit  to  the 
Library  may  be  directed  and  made  for  inspecting  its  condition,  and 
its  correspondence  with  the  accounts  herewith  rendered,  during  the 
annual  examination  in  June.  It  had  not  occurred  to  the  Faculty, 
though  there  is  no  proper  reason  why  it  should  not  have  been  done, 
to  exhibit  to  the  Board,  our  proceedings  in  the  application  of  these 
funds.  I  shall  be  particular  so  to  do  it  at  all  times  hereafter,  for  the 
reasonable  satisfaction  of  the  Board  at  its  annual  sessions.  It  was  a 
valuable  privilege  granted  to  the  Faculty,  and  an  important  provision 
for  the  College,  when  the  ordinance  was  passed  appropriating  the  li- 
brary money  for  the  purchase  of  books.  Without  some  such  fund,  I 
know  not  how  we  should  have  been  able  to  get  along  as  a  body  of 
Teachers.  It  has  enabled  us  to  procure  some  books  from  year  to  year, 
without  which  wc  must  have  continued  grossly  ignorant.  We  must 
have  become  completely  stationary  within  limits,  which  if  known  to 
others  would  have  been  disgraceful.  It  is  perhaps  hardly  considered 
with  sufficient  advertency  that  a  professor  in  a  College  who  is  without 
books  in  tolerable  supply,  is  analogous  to  the  creation  of  nobility 
which  for  want  of  estate  is  obliged  to  live  in  rags.*    What  should  we 

♦Please  excuse  the  reference.  Small  things  may  be  compared  with 
great  for  illustration. 


(  3  ) 

think  of  a  lawyer  or  a  judge  who  was  told  to  go  into  the  practice  or 
the  decisions  of  the  courts,  and  to  prosecute  his  profession  with  emi- 
nence and  extensive  success,  while  he  was  destitute  of  library,  and 
unable  to  determine  what  were  the  laws  or  the  decisions  of  authori- 
ties ?  What  is  to  be  understood  by  a  standing  professorship  in  a  col- 
lege, if  it  be  not,  that  he  who  occupies  it,  is  to  employ  his  whole  time 
and  his  utmost  diligence  in  the  extension  of  his  knowledge  by  the 
examination  and  study  of  the  multitude  of  authors  who  have  written 
on  the!  subjects  upon  which  it  is  his  business  to  teach  and  deliver  lec- 
tures. '  It  has  been  well  said  upon  a  late  occasion  in  regard  to  impost 
upon  books  imported  into  our  country,  enforced  by  a  law  of  Congress, 
that  library  constitutes  a  main  part  of  the  stock  in  hand  to  a  man  en- 
gaged in  literature.  It  is  almost  proverbial  to  say  of  men  whose  bus- 
iness is  literature,  that  they  are  a  class  who  are  apt  to  be  found  get- 
ting along  with  difficulty,  ever  cramped  by  the  restrictions  of  necessity. 
"What  should  we  think  of  laying  impost  upon  a  shoemaker's  awls  and 
lasts,  or  a  carpenter's  planes  and  chisels,  if  there  were  no  possibility 
of  obtaining  these  instruments  but  by  sending  to  Europe  ?  And  how 
could  a  printer  commence  and  go  on  to  execute  in  the  handsomest 
style,  and  with  the  most  extensive  methods  of  his  business  in  one  of 
our  cities,  if  he  was  turned  into  a  building,  and  told  to  go  to  work 
with  one  or  two  fonts  of  types,  and  those  perhaps  half-worn  ?  Ob- 
liged to  make  out  his  ink  as  well  as  he  could,  and  to  patch  up  his 
presses  by  his  own  ingenuity  ?  It  were  easy  to  enlarge  in  these  illus- 
trations of  the  circumstances  in  which  the  Faculty  here  have  been 
compelled  to  proceed  in  their  business  with  few  books  and  no  appa- 
ratus. We  have  however  been  greatly  relieved  by  the  resource  fur- 
nished in  the  library  money,  with  which  we  have  had  it  in  our  power 
to  furnish  some  supplies  of  that  species  of  food  on  which  as  instruct- 
ors we  are  called  upon  to  subsist  and  grow." 

dr.  caldwell's  offer. 

Dr.  Caldwell  proceeded  to  show  that  a  large  percentage  would  be 
saved  by  expending  a  considerable  sum  at  once,  say  $0,000,  which 
would  be  important  enough  to  justify  sending  an  agent  to  Europe  on 
the  business.  He  offered  to  go  himself,  if  the  Trustees  consented  to 
make  the  appropriation,  declaring  generously  "My  idea  has  been  to 
answer  the  bill  for  all  my  personal  movements  on  the  business  from 
my  own  resources."  His  expectation  that  the  Library  would  continue 
to  be  fostered,  is  indicated  in  this  suggestion,  "By  taking  pains  to 
contract  personal  acquaintance  in  the  places  visited  for  the  transac- 
tion of  business,  any  future  expenditures  for  the  University  in  books 
and  apparatus,  might  be  conducted  without  the  necessity  of  an  ex- 
pensive or  unsafe  agency." 

dr.  caldwell's  purchase. 

Dr.  Caldwell's  offer  was  accepted,  and  lie  went  to  Europe  the  same 
year  with  six  thousand  dollars  to  expend  for  books  and  apparatus. — 
He  exceeded  this  sum  a  little  in  his  outlay,  paying  $3,234.74,  besides 
freight,  for  979  books.  Most  of  these  had  come  to  hand  and  had  been 
placed  in  the  Library  by  Dec.  14,  1825.  He  also  brought  over  as  do- 
nations Thuanus  in  six  volumes  folio  from  a  bookseller,  and  54  vol- 
umer  from  a  Committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. — 
Though  no  catalogue  of  the  purchases  is  on  hand,  yet  no  doubt  among 
them  were  a  series  of  Latin  (Delphin  edition)  and  Greek  classics  in 
uniform  bindings;  a  number  of  the  original  editions  of  early  treatises 
on  Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy,  as  those  of  Galileo,  Tycho 
Brahe  and  Kepler  ;  and  early  editions  of  Euclid  in  Greek,  Latin,  Ara- 
bic, French  and  Engl  ish,  in  which  the  composition  of  his  own  geome- 
try may  have  given  Dr.  Caldwell  special  interest. 


(  4  ) 

FURTHER  PURCHASES  PROPOSED. 

At  the  close  of  his  report  for  1829  (?)  the  President  transcribes  the 
following  representation  "from  the  Professor  of  Chemistry  for  the 
consideration  of  the  Board."  "An  annual  appropriation  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  for  the  enlargement  of  the  college  library  was 
made  in  the  summer  of  1827,  but  no  books  have  been  purchased  since 
that  time  though  they  have  been  greatly  wanted.  The  reason  why  no 
funds  have  been  appropriated  specifically  to  this  object  is  well  known 
to  all  concerned,  and  is  doubtless  a  good  one.  At  the  present  time  it 
is  exceedingly  desirable,  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Board  to  the 
purchase  of  the  following  books  probably  amounting  to  such  a  sum 
as  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars."  Here  follows  a  list  of  fifteen  vol- 
umes chiefly  belonging  to  the  Professor's  department.  His  applica- 
tion seems  to  have  been  futile. 

GIFT  OP  THE  ENGLISH  RECORDS. 

It  was  possibly  as  a  sequel  to  Dr.  CaldwelPs  visit  in  England  that 
the  Kecord  Commission  some  years  afterwards,  1833 — 41,  donated 
their  publications,  83  folios  and  24  octavoes.  Many  of  them  contain 
on  a  printed  leaflet  the  words  "Record  Commission,  12th  March  1831. 
This  book  is  to  be  perpetually  preserved  in  the  Library  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  North  Carolina."  There  are  also  twelve  books  and  many  pam- 
phlets written  or  edited  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Commission,  Charles 
Purton  Cooper,  which  probably  accompanied  this  grand  donation. 

PRO.  MITCHELL  ON  THE  LIBRARY. 

After  the  death  of  Dr.  Caldwell  and  the  accession  of  Gov.  Swain, 
Prof.  E.  Mitchell  went  North  to  examine  a  collection  of  minerals 
which  had  been  offered  for  sale  to  the  University.  On  his  return, 
Sept.  183G,  after  having  visited  Yale  and  Amherst,  the  Episcopal  Col- 
lege at  Hartford  and  the  Wesleyan  University  at  Middletown,  he  com- 
ments on  the  condition  of  our  University  in  the  following  terms :  "The 
one  particular  in  which  our  inferiority  is  most  glaring  and  palpable 
is  the  want  of  what  has  of  late  been  called  the  "material  of  science 
and  literature — Books,  Philosophical  Apparatus,  Cabinets  of  Miner- 
als, Rocks  and  Shells.  Nothing  about  the  University  of  N.  C.  will 
strike  an  intelligent  stranger  who  has  been  making  public  schools  an 
object  of  attention  as  so  little  creditable  to  us  as  this  part  of  our  es- 
tablishment. With  reference  to  putting  it  into  a  good  condition 
disbursements  for  almost  any  other  object  may  well  be  avoided." 
Then  after  speaking  of  needed  apparatus,  Dr.  Mitchell  adds :  "We  have 
a  professorship  of  Modem  Languages  and  with  the  exception  of  a 
broken  copy  of  Voltaire's  works  and  some  old  books  of  controversy 
between  the  Catholics  and  Protestants  presented  many  years  ago  by 
Gautier  of  Elizabeth  in  Bladen,  have  hardly  a  French  work — in  Ital- 
ian, Spanish  and  Portuguese  we  have — nothing.  Books  are  continual- 
ly published  in  the  different  departments  of  science  and  learning 
which  the  Professors  must  have — without  which  the  Library  of  the 
University  cannot  be  respectable  and  which  therefore  it  seems  proper 
that  the  Trustees  should  purchase."  He  thinks  that  curtailments 
should  "be  made  in  any  direction  for  the  purpose  of  securing  8  or  10 
thousand  dollars  to  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  Apparatus,  Library 
and  Cabinets  of  Minerals  and  Shells." 

CONDJTON  OF  THE  LIBRARY,  1836. 

W.  H.  Owen,  the  Librarian,  reports,  Dec.  15, 1836,  about  1900  books 
in  the  Library,  of  which  he  had  prepared  a  catalogue  not  now  pre- 
served. Some  additions  were  understood  to  be  in  contemplation  by 
the  Trustees.  The  books  were  kept  in  the  Junior  recitation  room  in 
Old  South,  second  story,  south  side.  He  says :  "From  a  thorough  ex- 
amination of  the  Library  it  appears  that  shortly  after  the  college 


went  into  operation  and  for  a  considerable  time  thereafter  much  pride 
was  taken  by  gentlemen  in  different  parts  of  the  State  in  making  val- 
uable donations  of  Books  to  it,  but  for  many  years  past  this  spirit  of 
individual  munificence  has  entirely  ceased;  and  as  no  available  ap- 
propriation has  recently  been  made  by  your  body,  the  Library  has  in- 
creased but  very  little  sinCe  the  addition  made  to  it  by  the  purchases 
of  Dr.  Caldwell  in  Europe.  After  the  Resolution  of  your  Body  was 
passed  empowering  the  Faculty  to  appoint  some  one  of  their  number 
Reciever  of  College  dues  and  allowing  a  certain  sum  for  his  compen- 
sation, the  Professors  agreed  to  discharge  the  duty  alternately  and  to 
receive  only  one  half  of  the  sum  allowed  as  a  compensation  and  to 
expend  the  other  half  in  the  purchase  of  Books;  but  since  the  ap- 
pointment of  Prof.  Mitchell  as  Bursar,  of  course  this  source  of  en- 
largement ceases." 

A  NEW  LIBRARY  BUILDING. 

A  long  blank  now  occurs  in  the  history  and  development  of  the 
Library.  In  1850  a  new  building  was  erected  for  its  accommodation 
of  which  Hon.  B.  F.  Moore,  Chairman  of  a  Select  Committee  of  the 
Trustees,  thus  speaks  at  the  annual  meeting.  "The  Library  now  in 
the  process  of  construction,  will  be  one  of  the  largest  and  altogether 
the  handsomest  of  our  edifices.  The  cost  of  it  will  altogether  absorb 
all  of  our  available  means  during  the  present  year.  How  are  we  to 
obtain  the  books  so  much  needed  to  supply  the  shelves  of  this  capa- 
cious edifice  ?  Not  a  volume  has  been  purchased  by  the  Trustees 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  No  stranger  is  ever  invited  to 
examine  our  present  collection.  The  Professors  have,  in  some  instan- 
ces, supplied  the  means  of  instruction  in  their  own  departments,  by 
most  inconvenient  draughts  upon  private  resources.  It  would  require 
a  princely  revenue,  however,  to  command  the  important  publications 
constantly  multiplying  in  every  department  of  science  and  literature." 
The  handsome  building  was  finished,  but  the  books  were  soon  moved 
to  the  third  story  of  the  Old  East,  where  they  remained  till  the  au- 
tumn of  1869. 

PKOF.  MITCHEL'S  LIBRARY. 

In  the  year  1859  the  books  of  Prof.  Mitchell,  who  had  died  the  year 
before,  were  offered  for  sale.  The  University  purchased  a  large  num- 
ber, l,897,(as  a  manuscript  list  seems  to  show.  It  includes  books  of  a 
wide  range,  history  and  theology,  classics  and  literature,  as  well  as 
natural  and  physical  sciences.  This  is  believed  to  have  been  the  only 
purchase  of  books  by  the  Trustees  since  1824. 

OTHER  ADDITIONS  SINCE  1824. 

Within  the  past  forty-five  years  a  few  gifts  have  been  made  by  indi- 
viduals, less  than  60  volumes  before  March  1869  and  about  300  since. 
Furthermore  the  Library  has  been  enlarged  by  the  deposit  of  some 
disused  college  text  books  ;  the  Smithsonian  Institution  has  given  its 
scientific  jmblications,  25  in  number;  the  State  has  given 218 volumes 
of  her  laws,  legislative  records  and  law-reports;  and  the  United 
States  has  given  a  constant  stream  of  Congressional  and  Executive 
documents,  including  Coast  Survey,  Observatory,  &c,  full  fifteen  hun- 
dred in  all.  The  total  number  of  volumes  now  belonging  to  the  Li- 
brary is  not  far  from  seven  thousand. 

LIBRARIANS. 

The  Librarian  of  the  University  according  to  the  laws  of  1813  was 
"to  be  appointed  by  the  faculty  every  half  year."  The  revised  codes 
of  1838  and  1851  alike  provided  that  uThe  Senior  Tutor  shall  be  Li- 
brarian." The  revision  of  1859  makes  no  mention  of  the  method  of 
appointment  which  has  since  then  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Trustees 
or  the  Faculty.    Joseph  H.  Saunders  was  Librarian  in  1824 :  Prof.  W. 


( 6 )' 

II.  0»f on  from  Dec.  1836-'43;  Prof.  Ashbel  G.  Brown,  1844-,50 ;  Prof. 
F.  M.  Hubbard  and  Pres.  Swain,  1867^98 ;  Prof.  F.  P.  Brewer,  1869-70. 
Prof.  Hubbard's  name  appears  only  in  the  three  catalogues  from  1866 
to  1868,  daring  most  of  which  time  the  duties  were  performed  by  the 
President. 

TESTIMONY  OF  LIBRARIANS. 

The  present  Librarian  acknowledges  the  courtesies  of  Prof.  Owen 
and  Prof.  Hubbard,  as  well  as  of  Prof.  William  Hooper,  in  aiding  his 
investigations.  The  latter  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  for  the  names  of  Li- 
brarians before  1836,  says,  "The  Library  was  so  poor  an  affair  for  a 
State  University  that  a  Librarian  was  hardly  necessary."  Prof.  Hub- 
bard writes,  "The  College  Library  was  never  open  to  the  Students ; 
on  two  occasions  only,  as  I  remember,  consulted  by  persons  from 
abroad;  and  almost  never — except  as  told  above  [used  by  Governor 
Swain  and  the  Librarian] — used  by  members  of  the  Faculty." 

SUMMARY. 

From  this  historical  survey  it  aj^pears  that  the  founders  and  first 
managers  of  the  University  appreciated  the  importance  of  a  Library 
and  co-operated  steadily  for  its  accumulation  ;  that  already  before  Dr. 
Caldwell's  death  there  arose  either  opposition  or  indifference  to  its  en- 
largement; and  that  since  that  time,  notwithstanding  several  brave 
efforts  to  give  to  this  department  its  due  importance,  it  has  been 
treated  with  discouraging  neglect.  The  Libraries  of  the  two  Liter- 
ary Societies  have  indeed  been  fostered  by  their  members,  but  their 
collections  have  been  chiefly  light  reading  and  general  literature.  The 
University  Library  is  now  as  far  behind  the  requirements  of  the  times 
as  when  the  first  President  appealed  to  the  Trustees  for  its  liberal  in- 
crease nearly  half  a  century  ago. 

DESCRIPTION  QE  LIBRARY  BUILDING. 

The  new  Library  Building  is  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  temple.  The 
entire  hall  is  about  84  feet  long,  by  32  feet  wide  and  20  ft.  high,  and 
is  lighted  by  five  windows  on  each  side.  The  basement  has  serv- 
ed for  an  experimental  laboratory,  but  is  now  only  a  place  of  storage. 
The  main  hall  was  for  a  time  used  rather  inappropriately  for  dancing 
parties. 

SPECIMEN  BOOKS. 

The  character  of  the  presents  ancL  purchases  for  the  Library  may 
be  illustrated  by  describing  a  few  books.  Among  the  gifts  of  the 
Record  Commission  is  the  Domesday  Book  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
in  two  volumes  with  a  supplement,  it  is,  as  is  well  known,  a  sort  of 
census  of  England,  taken  eight  hundred  years  ago,  written  in  Latin 
writh  many  abbreviations.  Thus  in  the  census  of  the  county  of  Es- 
sex and  "Hundred  de  Rochefort"  a  paragraph  begins  "Ragheleiam 
ten  &  S."  The  second  word  is  tenet  and  S  is  the  initial  of  Suein  wTho 
held  Raleigh  under  King  William.  We  suggest  as  a  question  for  the 
Historical  Society  whether  Ragheleia  is  the  village  from  which  the  re- 
mote ancestor  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  took  his  surname;  and  if  so, 
whether  that  ancient  orthography  should  not  be  preserved  in  Latiniz- 
ing the  name  of  our  city  of  Raleigh,  rather  than  the  form  Ralega, 
which  is  used  in  the  last  Latin  catalogue  of  the  University  ? 

One  of  the  books,  as  we  conjecture,  of  Dr.  Caldwell's  purchase,  one 
at  all  events  bought  of  a  Paris  bookseller,  has  the  following  full  de- 
scriptive title  surrounded  with  pictorial  illustrations:  "The  Elements 
of  Geometrie  of  the  most  auncient  Philosopher  Euclide  of  Megara. — 
Faithfully  (now  first)  translated  into  the  Englishe  toung  by  H.  Bil- 
lingsley,  Citizen  of  London.  Whereunto  are  annexed  certaine  Scho- 
lies,  Annotations,  and  inuentions,  of  the  best  Mathematiciens,  both  of 
time  past  and  in  this  our  age.    With  a  very  fruitfull  Prscface  made  by 


( 7 ) 

M.  I.  Dee,  specifying  the  chiefe  Mf^hematicall  Sciences,  what  they 
are,  and  whereunto  commodious  :  where,  also,  are  disclosed  certain© 
new  Secrets  Mathematical!  and  Mechanical  1,  until  1  these  our  dales, 
greatly  missed."  The  date  of  publication,  1570,  is  given  on  the  last 
page.  The  fly-leaf  at  the  beginning  bears  the  name  of  Montucla,  a 
distinguished  French  mathematician  of  the  last  century,  who  was  very 
likely  the  former  owner  of  the  volume. 

A  Latin  Paraphrase  of  Milton's  Poems  by  Gulielmus  Hogaeus,  1690T 
is  found  among  Dr.  James  Hall's  donations.  The  Paradise  Lost  be- 
gins :  "  Primaevi  cano  furta  Fatris,  furtumque  secutae."  Another  of  Dr. 
Hall's  gifts  is  Derodon's  Logic,  1659.  On  the  fly-leaf  is  written  "E 
Libris  Dan :  Hyd  :  e  Coll :  Wadh  :  Anno  Domini  1696,"  which  seems 
to  show  that  175  years  ago  the  book  belonged  to  a  member  of 
Wadh  am  College  in  Oxford  University.  A  later  hand  wrote  "Ex  libris 
Gruli.  Livingstone."  Perhaps  the  owner  of  the  book  at  that  time  was 
the  famous  Governor  of  New  Jersey. 

Of  Prof.  Mitchell's  books  we  select  one,  Outlines  of  Philosophical 
Education,  by  George  Jardine,  for  the  purpose  of  copying  a  neat  crit- 
icism by  Prof.  Mitchell  himself  written  on  the  fly-leaf.  "  The  adjec- 
tive Philosopical  occurring  in  the  title  page  of  this  volume  is  a  mis- 
nomer. The  Author  at  thetime  of  composing  it  must  have  been  be- 
tween 70  and  80  years  of  age,  since  he  states  that  he  had  been  for  fifty 
years  professor  in  the  University  of  Glasgow.  Evidence  of  the  forget- 
fulness  incident  to  advanced  age  is  furnished  by  his  giving  the  same 
sentiments  twice  in  the  same  language  in  the  compass  of  a  single 
volume.  (Pages  452,  3,  4  and  518,  9.)  He  appears  not  to  have  been 
a  man  of  great  ability — but  of  much  worth  and  fidelity  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  official  duties  who  felt  and  proved  the  advantage  of  bring- 
ing his  pupils  to  co-operate  with  him  in  carrying  on  their  education 
by  calling  uponthem  for  frequent  essays  on  the  subjects  of  his  lec- 
tures. This  is  nearly  the  whole  subject  of  the  book  which  is  called 
"  Outlines  of  Philosopical  Education "  with  reference  to  his  being 
professor  of  Mental  philosophy  and  not  because  any  very  new  philoso- 
phical views  on  the  subject  of  education  are  contained  in  it.  His  me- 
thods may  unquestionably  be  applied  with  much  advantage  to  my  own 
department — chemistry,  rhetoric  and  history.    Dec.  19th,  1832." 

MATERIALS  FOR  UNIVERSITY  HISTORY. 

We  conclude  this  sketch  with  a  list  of  the  documents  on  hand  (be- 
sides its  own  valuable  archives)  to  illustrate  the  history  of  the  Uni- 
versity : 

Of  Catalogues  the  annual  series  is  complete  from  1848-9  to  the  present 
time.  Of  earlier  years  there  are  only  those  of  1829,  33,  38,  41  and  44. 
There  are  also  the  general  Latin  catalogue  of  1852  :  the  Dialectic  So- 
ciety catalogues  1841,  52  ;  Philanthropic  Society  catalogue  1852. 

Of  College  Laws,  the  editions  of  1822,  1838,  1852  and  1859. 

Programmes.— Commencement  1820,  27,  28,  29,  39,  67,  68  and  70. 
Freshman  Exhibition  June  1857.    Examination,  Nov.  1859. 

Circulars,  Dec.  1807,  Sept.  1854,  July  1867,  July  1869,  Sept.  1870. 

Trustee  Reports. — Report  of  Examining  Committee  June  10,  1819. 
George  E.  Badger  on  the  Controversy  between  the  University  and  the 
Claimants  of  her  Western  Lands,  1826.  B.  F.  Moore  on  escheats,  1851. 
Annual  Meeting,  1868.  Reports  to  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, 1869. 

Commencement  Addresses  and  Sermons. — By  Hon.  William  Gaston, 
(Prof.  William  Hooper  and  Henry  S.  Ellenwood,  before  N".  C.  Institute 
of  Education),  1832 ;  Hon.  Robert  Strange,  1837 ;  Hugh  McQueen, 
1839;  Hon. John  Y.  Mason,  LL.  D.,  1847;  William  Eaton,  Jr.,  1848; 


(  *  > 

Hon,  William  A.  Graham,  1S49;  H*ml  James  ('.  Dobbin,  1850;  Hon. 
A.  0.  P.  Nicholson,  James  II.  Dickaon,  M.  D..  1853;  Hon.  Aaron  V. 
h  nvn,  1854;  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Atkinson,  George  Davis,  Esq..  1855; 
Re\.  B.  Manly,  Jr.,  Matt.  W.  Ransom.  Esq..  1856  ;  Henry  W.  Miller, 
Esq.,  1857;  William  Hooper.  1859;  Archbishop  John  Hughes,  John 
Pool.  Esq..  1860  ;  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Battle.  LL.  D„  1865  ;  Ex-Gov.  Zebu- 
Ion  Baird  Vance,  1866;  John  H.  Wheeler,  1870. 

University  Magazine. — From  Vol.  I,  No.  2,  April,  1844,  to  Vol.  X, 
No.  8,  April  1861,  there  are  twenty-three  numbers  but  not  one  vol- 
ume complete. 

Historical  Society. — Report  of  Secretary,  June  1845. 

Literary  Works  by  members  of  the  Faculty. — Dr.  Caldwell. — Ele- 
mentary Geometry  in  Seven  Books,  to  which  an  Eighth  is  annexed 
containing  such  other  Propositions  a^  are  Elementary — Subjoined  is  a 
Treatise  of  Plane  Trigonometry.    Phil.  1822. 

Sermon  at  the  Ordination  of  Rev.  Samuel  Paislev  in  Raleigh,  April 
4,  1813. 

Sermon  on  the  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life.  March  1828. 

The  Numbers  of  Carlton,  concerning  a  Central  Railroad.  N.  Y.  1828. 

Letters  on  Popular  Education,  addressed  to  the  People  of  North 
Carolina,    Hillsborough.  1832. 

Pres.  Swain. — Report  on  the  Historical  Agency  for  Pre  iring  Doc- 
uinontar*fevidenceof  the  Historv  of  N.  C.  1857. 

Mt.  Mitchell,  the  Highest  Peak  of  Black  Mountain,  1858. 

Early  Times  in  Raleigh,  1867. 

Prof.  William  Hooper. — Latin  Prosody.  Phil.  1819. 
Sermon  on  Deceitfulness  and  Wickedness  of  the  Heart.  Fayetteville. 
Sermon  before  the  Chowan  Baptist  Association,  May  1851. 
Prof.  Elisha  Mitchell. — Four  articles  in  Anier.  Jour,  of  Science, 
1830,  31. 

Prof.  Denisox  Olmsted. — Outlines  of  Lectures  on  Chemistry,  Min- 
eralogv  and  Geologv  at  the  Univ.  N.  C.  Raleigh,  1819. 
Natural  Philosophy  1831.    (Stereotyped  Edition  1855.) 
Astrononiv,  1854. 
Memoir  of  Eli  Wliitney,  1846. 

Several  articles  in  Jour,  of  Science  and  the  New  Englander  (with 
memoir  by  Pres.  Woolsey). 

Prof.  E.  A.  Andrews. — Latin  Exercises.    Boston,  1841. 
Latin  Grammar  by  Andrews  and  Stoddard. 

Prof.  James  Phillips. — Elements  of  Conic  Sections.    N.  Y.,  1828. 

Prof.  Charles  Phillips. — Plane  and  Spherical  Trigonometry  with 
some  of  its  Applications.    Raleigh,  1857. 

Memoir  of  Prof.  Elisha  Mitchell  (with  Bishop  Otev's  Funeral  Ora- 
tion).   ChapelHill,  1858. 

Prof.  Charles  F.  Deems. — Twelve  College  Sermons.    Phil.  1844. 

Southern  Methodist  Pulpit,  1849-52. 

Annals  of  Southern  Methodism  for  they  ear  1855. 

Prof.  H.  H.  Smith.— Robertsonian  System  of  Teaching  French, 
with  Rules  of  Pronunciation  and  a  Full  Vocabulary.    ChapelHill,  '58. 

To  the  above  list  might  be  added  a  few  publications  by  other  gen- 
tlemen whose  connection  with  the  Institution  has  been  less  promi- 
nent, as  well  as  various  articles  in  theN.  C.  Journal  of  Education  and 
in  the  University  Magazine. 


